Ha-Ha-Tonka State Park

Beautiful place! Buff gives the best personal guided tours! He puts the Ha in Ha-​Ha Tonka! The spring is beautiful and great hiking trails!

Wonderful park with many hiking trails, gorgeous vistas, and beautiful springs. The castle is an incredible feat for 1922. Plenty of parking and you can walk up hill to the castle or drive up to it. Trails are a little rough with a lot of rock outcroppings and roots that you could potentially trip over.

Beautiful park. Excellent Hiking Trails and wonderful views! We went over the thanksgiving holiday this year and it was raining when we were there. But even the rain didn’t stop us from enjoying this place. The small walk to the Spring was great and the views from the castle are stunning!

Drive over to Camdenton to see this place today. Park has several marked hiking trails, and is divided into sections. First is the visitor center. Then the castle and water tower. Next is the natural bridge and then the spring. We hiked up to the castle and the water tower. Beautiful and not crowded. The lake was below. Then we drove down to the Spring Trail and hiked it to the end. It was beautiful. Not crowded and would love to hike some more trails there.

This park is truly a hidden gem, and I am very happy I recently visited to enjoy some nice scenery. As far as simple low-​effort hiking, this park has some really amazing trails! The spring trail offered stunning views, and we also enjoyed exploring the castle and hiking on the quarry trail. I recommend visiting on a Monday, it was nice to enjoy the park without crowds.

Beautiful scenery. We hiked several of the smaller trails with our children. We all enjoyed it. Plenty of places to have picnics. We are already planning to return soon.

this park has a lot of hiking trails I didnt get to enjoy as many as I would of liked to. they range different lengths. the scenery is absolutely amazing. if you are a nature lover or have a love for state parks this is one you don’t want to miss. its about 3 hours from st. Louis but well worth the day trip. besides the trails there are ruins from a castle that was built there. you can not climb on or in the castle ruins but you can view it from many different angles. the castle ruins survived a fire that burnt out the castle.
there is also hiking, fishing, picnicking, caving, sink holes to explore, natural bridge, playgrounds & swimming. it is very picturesque you can see the lake of the Ozarks from the bluffs.
I would suggest hiking boots/​shoes or at least tennis shoes a camera and bottled water, there are water fountains around but they seem to be warm water. please recycle or least throw trash away they have the bins there .
there are some benches near the castle if you need to rest. the trek from the castle to the parking lot is a slight incline and about 1/3−½ mile with plenty of spots to take pictures. the trek from the water tower to the castle is about ½−¾ mile.
most of the roads are paved so it would easy to ride a motorcycle to the park
the bathrooms are vented well but may not have a toilet and seat as some maybe used to but there is running water. the park is kept up for the most part.
I am coming back to explore of the park & take in more of the options I didn’t get to this time.

Beautiful park with breathtaking scenery. I had the whole family so didn’t get a chance to hike the trails, but fully intend to go back.
The view of the lake from the castle ruins is amazing.
Don’t forget to go by the natural bridge. Well worth the stop.

This is a very well kept and lovely state park. We took advantage of the hiking trails as well as the millions of stairs (or at least it felt like it) along the trail that has nice wood decking down to the natural spring below. The water tower and castle ruins were really neat. Best of all, it’s free.

glorious! so much fun and so much to see. made our trip worth it! the castle fired my imagination. what it must have been like in it’s glory days! a do not miss attraction!

Went to the natural bridge and thought it was very cool. Took the loop trail and enjoyed it. Not to hard but enough to make it interesting. Went to the cave and it was closed. Not sure if there is a time it is open or not. Went to the island trail and took that trail and it was a bit more difficult. Alot of stairs and things in the trail but made it alot more fun. the park was very pretty and alot to do. The castle and the carriage house was something and hard to imagine it being there and living there.

For my 200^th Unilocal Review I wanted to pick a special place. Ha Ha Tonka State Park is such a place. It’s kinda off the beaten path to get to a few miles South of US 54 outside of Camdenton. So what do you get if you make the drive here? You find the unexpected!
Rather than write a Chamber of Commerce grade review this one’s just an Ozarks raised guy sharing his thoughts. The «castle» ruins are always my first stop. Can you imagine living in a huge house like that with the views overlooking the river and the Ozark foothills stretching to the horizon? Once I quit daydreaming I check out the trails. If you’re into geography Ha Ha Tonka lets you figure out what «Karst» geography truly is when you see what water does to limestone over time. It makes cool caves, rock bridges, and trails winding their way across it all that will make you watch your step and become immersed in the scenery.
I would be seriously slacking if I didn’t mention the boardwalk and the steps to descend to the lower part of the park. 800+ steps will give your calves quite a workout. But the steps lead to access to the Niangua Arm of the Lake of the Ozarks and the 11^th largest spring in Missouri, and it’s my opinion that even on a hot summer day it’s worth the time to go see it.
There is so much to see here that you can easily spend a day doing so. Don’t come here if you’re rushed for time as you’ll be cheating yourself and adding the park to the list of places you intend to come back and see again. If you are into Missouri history or geography brush up on this place online so you can learn about the more obscure things (like certain caves or exposed Roubidoux dolomite sandstone, etc) that escape the casual tourist’s attention. This is also a place where having a Camelbak /​water hydration pack can make the experience a lot more enjoyable. Sunscreen is helpful, and if you go out on the trails bug spray is essential.
CAUTION: One last thing. Missouri «Letter» roads like «D» that you take to get to the park are paved but have sharp turns, dips, and are not meant to be driven like you’re on an Interstate Highway. Be careful as they are narrow too.
Naturally, 5 Stars.

I visited and hiked parts of Ha-​Ha-​Tonka state park over the weekend. The trails are well maintained, and the scenery is beautiful. I can’t wait to go back when I have a little more time on my hands.

Beautiful! I love this place. It’s kind of far away but it makes for a great, relaxing boat ride. The cliffs are awesome, the landscape is beautiful and it’s a bit more reclusive. The best part is the fresh springs. We used to go all the time to jump in, freeze, and eventually be pushed out by the current. It’s also probably the only spot in the lake where you can actually see through the water, which is beautiful!

Castle ruins and vista views of the Lake where neat. Walking the river trail is heavily shaded and the boat dock is just what it says so after a ½ mile trail over tree roots don’t expect too much. Parking was ok and nearby (by car) covered picnic area has a place to grill and a childrens playground area that was clean. Wish we had brought big wheeled stroller as small wheeled around castle area difficult to navigate for our 1 year old and we ended up having to carry him most of the way.